A Dark Destiny
by Ellwyn
Summary: The cliched half-Elven girl, daughter of a Mirkwood elf and a man from Esgaroth, seeks her father who has sworn his service to Sauron. Legolas joins her...but fate is set. Mary-Sue, but this one's devoid of a happy-go-lucky ending. Completed.
1. Ghosts of the Past

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Chapter One: Ghosts of the Past

By Ellwyn J 

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Yrch! The cry echoed throughout the city as Legolas slung his bow over his shoulder and dashed out to the gardens. He had been strolling through the city, admiring it since he had been away with his father for quite some time at Rivendell. Legolas had returned first, feeling a bit of nostalgia for his home in the thickly wooded forests of Mirkwood, while his father remained behind to speak with Elrond. Legolas stood poised at the center of the gardens, ready to unleash a swift arrow at any moment if any of the nasty Orcs decided to set foot inside their city. After a few minutes, the chaos began to subside. He stopped a young Elf near him and asked, "What happened?" 

The young Elf shrugged and replied, "There were Orcs near the borders of the forest. I hear they were chasing someone, not of our kind." 

Legolas looked baffled. "Wandering bands of Orcs…who were they chasing?"

The Elf shrugged again, then with a quick nod, ran off, leaving Legolas only to wonder. He was about to turn away when his keen ears heard the sound of horse hoofs and leaves rustling. He stood, waiting, until several Elven warriors rode in through the arched gate. He recognized them all, save for one rider cloaked in dark green who was seemingly protected by a circle of the Silvan Elves. They all stepped down and led their horses away. One of them shook his head and looked at the still form on the black horse with scorn. Legolas peered into the dark hood curiously, then drew in a breath of surprise as the rider's hood fell back. 

It was a girl, not much younger than he was. Her hair was pulled back in the Elven way, but she didn't look remotely like an Elf. Her hair was dark and ebony, and, even more unusual, so were her eyes. She had the pointed ears and the tall, slender stature of his kind, yet there was something extremely different about her. He immediately found himself disliking her. Perhaps it was the dark aura around her, or the way she held herself aloof, glaring at anyone who stared at her. But something in her eyes hinted to something in her that he didn't understand but was curious to know of. Legolas stared at her for a moment more, until her dark eyes locked onto his and narrowed slightly. He turned away, a sudden chill running down his back. 

"May I take your horse, Lady…?" an attendant walked up to the girl, trying too obviously to appear courteous to the strange girl that had just rode into their city.

"Ellwyn Silverleaf," she replied in a quiet voice, tearing her gaze away from the Elf clad in green and brown standing in the garden, "and yes, thank you." 

"May I ask why you are here?" the attendant asked again, very carefully.

"I need to speak with King Thranduil." She looked around at the archways and gardens, in awe of the simple beauty of the forest city. 

"The King is currently…unavailable," he replied with a trace of scorn in his voice, "I could tell him of your arrival as soon as he returns. Perhaps he will speak with you then."

"Is there a place I can stay until he returns?"

The attendant nodded and beckoned for her to follow him across a walkway. They stopped in front of a small room with an arched doorway. "You may stay here. Thranduil will most likely return tonight."

She nodded again as the attendant left, muttering under his breath. She gazed around at her surroundings again, breathlessly admiring the lush greenery, then around at the Elves walking around the city. She noticed that they all avoided looking at her, most ignoring her completely, but others glaring impolitely. She sighed, knowing there would never be anyone to share her burden with. The young Elf in the gardens with the sharply defined features and hawk-like eyes was looking at her again. She ignored his stare and turned, retreating into her room. She shut the door behind her.

*****

"Your name is Ellwyn Silverleaf?" Thranduil asked her. He was an old Elf, although the age didn't show in his face, and Ellwyn couldn't help but notice that the young Elf in the gardens earlier that day resembled him. The King of the Silvan Elves looked as if he possessed a great wisdom. Ellwyn felt insignificant in his presence, yet she knew she had to endure the feeling to find what she searched for.

"Yes," she said quietly. 

"Silverleaf…I remember an Elven maiden, many years ago, who fell in love with a mortal. That, also, was her name." It seemed as if Thranduil knew exactly what she wanted before she had even spoken.

"I came here because I remembered vaguely that my mother came from a place called Mirkwood. I journeyed from Lake Esgaroth…my father left me there as a child to grow up amongst Men. He told me never to go looking for this place, but he never told me why. I know my mother died before I could remember her, but I think my father still exists. I want to find him. Besides, I had to leave Esgaroth…it is far from easy to be a half Elven child in a city full of Men."

"My people have treated you no different than the Men must have," he said, as if apologizing.

"I have learned to ignore it. But your people helped me when I was in danger of being killed by that Orc party wandering near the Desolation," she said, "why is that? They obviously dislike me."

"That is because we believe in helping all who come to Mirkwood, who seek refuge here. Just as we helped a young man who came here many years ago, when the trees were younger. He was a man from Esgaroth, just as you are." 

"He…he was my father, wasn't he? I've heard stories. I know that few Men have ever set foot in Mirkwood, for they fear that giant spiders reside here. Just as few Elves set foot out of their land. My father had to meet my mother somehow. I came here to know the truth. I want to know what happened to my mother and where my father went."

Thranduil drew in a deep breath, leaned forward, and looked into her eyes with a deep understanding. The look made her sadden, for her father had never shown her such fatherly compassion. 

"Your mother was probably the most fair maiden in this realm. A group of men came to my forests once, seeking refuge from the giant spiders that had attacked them. One of them was severely wounded. Your mother looked after him until he was well again, and they fell in love with one another. But they both knew there could never be anything between them because she was immortal and had seen so many more seasons than he had. He left my forests and went back to Esgaroth. Many years passed, and your mother grew worn with heartache for the man she could never be with. Then, one night, there was a fire near the city. It was the work of evil Men, from the southern lands. A score of my people were killed by the Men's attack on our city, and your mother disappeared that night."

Ellwyn was silent.

"Your father had somehow become lost on one of his journeys and turned traitor to these lands. He joined Sauron's legions, and came back to take your mother. She was so blind in her love for him that she did not realize he had become a servant of the dark. Some of the elders in this city know that there was a half Elven child, born in Esgaroth to Thuwen Silverleaf, who was killed by her husband, who had lost all sense of reality after returning from Mordor. That is why they scorn you. For you are the daughter of a Man who turned traitor and killed our people, including Thuwen."

Ellwyn shut her eyes against the anger and sadness searing up inside of her. She felt her head burning. "My father…is he still alive?"

"Yes." Thranduil sounded unbelievably certain.

"How do you know?"

"He leads the building of the gates at Cirith Ungol. My people have seen and heard of him…he is a loyal servant of Sauron now."

"Then I must go there."

"And do what?" Thranduil asked, his voice rising. "What has passed is gone. You would never find him before the Orcs who guard the southern borders kill you. He would never learn that you had come to find him."

"There's nothing left for me to do!" she cried, standing, "you don't understand…nobody can understand how it is to live in a world where no one, no people will accept you. There's nowhere to go for me, nothing to do. No one needs me, so it would not be a great loss to anyone if I left. I want to find my father, and I've wanted to since he left me."

"But what will you do when you find him?" Thranduil questioned her.

"Now…now that I know what he did…I'll find him and kill him. He killed my mother, his _wife_, who he supposedly loved. He abandoned me and ran away like a coward." She stared angrily at the floor in front of her.

Thranduil was obviously astonished at her intentions. He had never thought a girl, an outcast of both worlds of Men and Elves, would want to search out her own father and kill him. Then he sighed and said, "My people have long since wanted to seek revenge. Some have lost dear friends to the fires of that night. But it is impossible to reach even the borders of Mordor without your presence being detected by the Dark Lord."

"I know how to speak the language of the Orcs," she said suddenly.

The King's eyes widened. "You are a very strange girl, indeed. Perhaps you may reach your father, if you can communicate with the Orcs long enough to get to Cirith Ungol." 

She nodded solemnly. "Thank you. I'm sorry for troubling you, and for bringing back ghosts from the past to your city and your people." She stood up to leave, meaning to gather her belongings and ride directly for Mordor. But Thranduil stood also, calling for her to stop.

"You cannot travel to Mordor alone. As I said, my people seek revenge, also. Will you stay until morning? Your companions will be ready then. They know the lands well and can help if you are attacked by wandering bands of Orcs."

Ellwyn stopped and thought for a moment. "I do not want to bring anyone else along. But since you have helped me and treated me kindly, I must accept. Thank you for your hospitality."

*****

There were already two other Elves waiting at the gates with horses and packs. Each of them, in turn, glared at Ellwyn and mounted his horse. Thranduil had furnished her horse with supplies and now she stood by the gates with the other Elves, pawing the ground. Ellwyn smiled at seeing her, then stroked her neck as her two new companions rode slowly away into the forest. A voice spoke suddenly from behind her, and she turned to see the young Elf that had been standing in the gardens the other day. Except now he was wearing a greenish-gray cloak and was equipped with a longbow, quiver, and two knives. 

"You have a way with animals, I can see," he said, his voice with an edge of ring to it, hinting towards his singing abilities. He was looking at her, but not as curiously as he was earlier. This time there was a trace of a smile on his lips, but he still looked at her with distaste.

"Only with Phaere. And even she sometimes lets me fall."

He turned away and whistled. A gray horse suddenly appeared through the trees outside of the city and stopped near him. He grinned at it and leapt onto the horse's back with surprising ease. Ellwyn flushed at his boyish grin and mounted Phaere, leading her into a trot. The handsome Elf muttered a few words to his horse in Elvish and it followed directly alongside Phaere. Ellwyn turned to him, her eyes searching his face.

"I thought the two that had already left were to be my only companions on my journey to Mordor."

"The path to Mordor is a dangerous one, and when I heard you were going, I felt I needed to come along also," he said, the grin wiped completely off his face now that he was speaking to her.

Ellwyn suddenly remembered his uncanny resemblance to King Thranduil, and asked, "I would like to know the name of the one Elf that actually will speak to me."

"Legolas Greenleaf," he replied, then said another word to his horse and galloped away, leaving Ellwyn to catch up.

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O, Elbereth, she thought_, the bloody **Prince** of Mirkwood was coming along? _Ellwyn spurred her horse to a gallop and galloped after the Elf, who was already disappearing into the dense foliage.

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Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com *please review!

All names and storyline affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of the things related to Tolkien's works, please tell me of them.


	2. Shores of the Anduin

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Chapter Two: The Shores of the Anduin

By Ellwyn J 

The trees in the center of the forest seemed to loom over their heads menacingly. The sun's bright rays could hardly penetrate through the treetops, and Ellwyn began to feel the cold through her cloak. Ellwyn, the elven prince, and the two other elves (who had spoken with her enough to briefly tell her their names: Arod and Durwyn) had been traveling on horseback for several hours now. It had been silent for the entire way, although once or twice Legolas would start humming quietly to himself. His voice was sweet and she couldn't help but strain her ears in an attempt to listen to the beautiful elven melodies. Ellwyn was just beginning to drop off into her own world, staring at the treetops, but a quiet noise in the bracken, probably a mile off, startled her. The other elves, apparently, had noticed it also, as they had all turned in the direction of the noise.

Legolas held out a hand, signaling them all to stop. He turned his head to listen more carefully, but they could hear nothing more. His body visibly relaxed, but his eyes continued to peer about warily. 

"What was that?" Ellwyn whispered, breaking the long silence.

Arod and Durwyn ignored her remark, which she had grown accustomed to, and merely started their horses back up to a trot, leaving the prince and the half-elf behind. 

"None of our kind are abroad that I know of and it is daylight…it cannot be Orc."

"Giant spider?" she interjected timidly, feeling quite stupid after saying that. Perhaps it ran in the family, or else Thranduil had taught his son to make others feel inconsequential when around him, too. 

Legolas, surprisingly, turned his blue eyes onto her, as if the one remark she thought stupid was actually of importance. Ellwyn could not describe the effect she felt when he looked directly at her. He gazed straight into her eyes, as if searching out a truth that she herself did not know of, or did not want to admit to herself. But there was something warm in his gaze, also, and his eyes always softened when he looked at her.

"Most likely," he said, "from here, we continue north and skirt around the edge of the mountains until we find the Old Forest Road. That will take us out of Mirkwood, and from there we can travel southward to Mordor." 

Without another word, he urged his horse forward again. Ellwyn stared after him, wondering how he could just brush off the threat of the giant spiders as if it were just as dangerous as a whistling bluebird. 

*****

They were traveling south along the Anduin now, and the sun had long since disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving a dim trace of daylight behind. Legolas looked troubled. Ellwyn brought Phaere next to him and tried to look as concerned as possible.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

"Night draws near, and there is nowhere to seek shelter in this barren land." 

Ellwyn nodded, then said, "I'm used to staying out in the open. We should camp by the river and be careful not to light a flame." 

Legolas gave her the most condescending look she had ever witnessed. "Don't you think I know that? It is still unsafe, for the Orc band that had attacked you earlier was seen traveling southwards. They must be around these areas."

She bit down on her lip, repressing any snide remarks she wanted to throw at him. She knew enough to get by on her own, but the elves knew better. Legolas, after all, was probably over a thousand years old. Staring at his profile, she wondered to herself how old the young and handsome elf actually was. She put it into words but only got another scornful look in return. 

Legolas motioned for them all to stop and they dismounted near the bank of the Anduin. Durwyn sat against a rock and stared blankly at the quietly flowing water. Ellwyn figured he was asleep, for she had heard tales from the men about how elves were always alert, even when they slept. Arod took up a watch and sat by the horses. Legolas was kneeling, digging in his pack for something. Finally, he handed her a piece of the _lembas_ they had been eating since they left, but she remained quiet and did not take it. 

She suddenly stood. "If the Orcs are wandering in these areas, someone should go find their whereabouts instead of waiting here for them to stumble upon us in the dark." Legolas did not have time to reply before she mounted Phaere and galloped off quickly. He shook his head and sighed resignedly. Perhaps he had been too hard on the girl; he had joined them because he was curious about her, yet he had not so much as tried to ask her of her parents or her past. Arod was beginning to drop off to sleep, so he decided to relieve him of his position. Legolas sat, trying to reassure himself that the girl could take care of herself.

*****

Ellwyn rode in the darkness, peering around and listening for any unusual sounds. But her mind was mostly on the journey ahead of her. She thought of her father the way she remembered him: he was a dark haired man with a kindly face and deep, understanding eyes. She had no memories of her mother, save for an image of a beautiful sandy haired woman. Her father used to play with her in the water; she remembered that he had taught her to swim. He had even taught her to ride Phaere, then just a tiny foal, and taught her how to fire an arrow. He had made a target on a tree a hundred feet from the cabin, and she tried repeatedly to hit it. Finally, she had succeeded, just as she succeeded in riding her horse the way the elves rode, without reins or bridle. She loved her father, who was the only person she could speak with in the entire town.

But sometimes he would disappear for days and come back, each time looking more and more haggard. He got this distant look in his eyes and would look to the south with a great thirst in his expression. He grew rough with other people and refused to speak with his daughter, until suddenly he disappeared completely when she was around the age of eight. 

A shout from the direction of the camp she had left an hour ago brought her out of her memories. Ellwyn turned Phaere and galloped quickly back to the Anduin, her heart racing, praying nothing had befallen the three elves by the riverside.

*****

Legolas had been dozing off when an arrow suddenly hurtled past his ear and planted itself in the haunch of one of the horses. The horse reared on its hind legs and bolted. Arod and Durwyn were already firing arrows back at the twenty or so Orcs that were coming for their camp. Legolas fired three arrows in rapid succession, hitting two in the midsection and one through the eye. Half of the Orc band was already slaughtered, but the rest were upon them, making their bows and arrows useless. Legolas drew his two knives, as did the other two elves, and stabbed through two more Orcs. There were only a few remaining and Legolas relaxed a little. The Orcs were few and easily killed. There was nothing to worry about.

But out of the darkness came another band of Orcs, the same size of the other. They charged from Legolas' right. He fought the Orcs off bravely, but noticed out of the corner of his eye that Arod and Durwyn were tiring, having been taken by surprise by such a number. An Orc behind Legolas drew a bowgun and aimed at Legolas' exposed back. He turned just in time to see the Orc and knew for a split second in the back of his mind that there was no time for him to do anything. His mind readied itself to fight against the pain he knew was coming. 

But the Orc misfired and the arrow landed several feet away from Legolas. The elf peered into the darkness and saw that the Orc had an arrow protruding from its back. Ellwyn had reached the camp and fired the arrow, saving Legolas' life. But her attention was drawn away from the four Orcs that were running for her. They dragged her off her horse almost effortlessly. Legolas recovered his senses and drew three more arrows and fired them at the Orcs. The last Orc managed to throw its remaining strength into the black knife that pierced Ellwyn's shoulder before Legolas' last arrow killed it. Ellwyn let out a gasp and cried out in pain.

There were Orc bodies strewn about their camp. Arod and Durwyn were scratched a bit, but were not seriously injured. They turned and saw Ellwyn on the ground and Legolas rushing over to her. He fell to the ground next to her and carefully tested the area around her wound. Legolas could not bring himself to believe she had saved him and let herself be hurt. He saw in her eyes that she knew the Orcs were bearing down on her. Something deep within him stirred, and he looked straight into her fading eyes, knowing he could not let her die.

"Ellwyn, hold on…" he whispered, cradling her in his arms. "You cannot let go. I'm here for you, just look at me and hold on." His mind raced. Arod kneeled on the ground near him and muttered something about the knife tip being poisoned. She wasn't going to recover on her own; she needed help. 

Legolas suddenly turned and yelled to Durwyn, "Take my horse. Get to Lorien and tell the Lady that we need help! Arod, go with him!"

Arod and Durwyn shook their heads, but at a determined look from their prince, they mounted and rode off quickly. Phaere was nearby, watching Ellwyn with sad eyes. She was moaning, and the poison was traveling quickly through her. Her eyes flickered open for a moment and she looked up at him. 

"Mellen," he whispered, "annathon dulu angen." My dear, I will help you. Legolas carefully lifted her in his arms and walked over to Phaere. He placed Ellwyn's limp body on Phaere's back and mounted behind her, then led Phaere into a slow trot through a shallow area of the Anduin.

A/N: New, much more accurate Elvish translations are now inserted. Many thanks to Aerlinnel for that!

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com *please review!

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me. 


	3. Foreshadows in the Mirror

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Chapter Three: Foreshadows in the Mirror

By Ellwyn J 

Legolas bowed his head under the Lady Galadriel's gaze. He had gotten to Lorien several hours after Durwyn and Arod had come to ask the Lady of her aid. Throughout the journey, he spoke and sang to the limp form of the half-elven girl. She had been long unconscious, but nevertheless, he persisted. Finally, after what seemed like a thousand years, he reached Lorien. Tired and in need of rest, he sleepily made sure that Ellwyn was taken immediately into the High Elves' care. The last thing he saw before he fell into a light and restless slumber was an ancient elf carefully lowering Ellwyn's body into a pool of crystalline blue water. He had awoken and found his way through the silver city to a glowing altar, where he found the Lady.

"Son of Thranduil, you have brought a strange companion with you indeed." The Lady spoke, her voice flowing over him in waves soothingly yet with a great strength.

"I am in your debt, Lady, for you have done me a great favor in times of need…" he began, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand.

"Legolas, there in no need to thank us. We receive our Elven kindred with welcome arms. But this girl…she is of Elven descent, yes, but there is an inherent evil that I sense in her."

Legolas nodded, then spoke quietly, "I, too, have felt it. But I do not suspect her of any evil." 

At this, the Lady smiled in agreement and motioned to one of the gleaming towers above them. "She is almost recovered. The healing waters of Lorien have cured her of the poison in her blood; she needs only rest now, to heal the wound. Perhaps you will go to her to comfort her if she awakens, for she might be frightened to awaken here." 

Legolas practically set off at a sprint, but at a mirthful smile from Galadriel, he bowed his thanks and left the altar.

*****

He reached the tower and quietly sat on the edge of the bed where the girl was resting, breathing calmly. She was pale now and her dark clothing had been replaced with a silver-white gown, which only emphasized the lack of color in her face further. Legolas was again left to wonder who she really was and what she sought in Mordor. He shuddered at the thought of having to travel so near to the black lands, but reminded himself quickly that he had thrown himself into this. He watched her sleeping peacefully for a few moments, contemplating her strange character. Just when he was about to stand, she stirred and her eyes opened suddenly, then flinched at the whiteness of the place. 

Legolas smiled and said quietly, "Broniannen lin ennin." 

Ellwyn slowly brought herself back to her senses. She couldn't remember anything beyond a band of Orcs attacking the camp… And here she was, lying in an unfamiliar, extremely beautiful place, with Legolas saying something incomprehensible. She shook her head and sat up, looking at him questioningly.

"I have lived many years," he translated at her confused expression. "One thousand, four hundred, and thirty-eight, to be exact." He smiled at her.

Ellwyn opened her mouth in shock, but all she could utter was a strange choking sound. Her throat was unbelievably dry. Legolas handed her the flask of water on the table nearby, and she choked even more as she drank thirstily. "What?" she managed to gasp out finally.

"You asked me, the last time we spoke, how many years I had seen."

"Oh…" she trailed off, looking quite puzzled. 

"And you?" Legolas asked, trying to keep her mind off the dark journey ahead of them.

She paused before answering. "I did not inherit my mother's immortality," she said reluctantly, "I have seen only seventeen years." Ellwyn looked down at her hands in her lap, feeling suddenly very small.

"You are a _pen neth_, or in the common tongue, a young one. I used to think the _pin nith_ did not know the ways of beauty and truth. Yet you have proved me wrong, for you nearly sacrificed your own life for mine. Why did you do that?" 

Ellwyn shook her head and stared at her hands again. "I do not know. I barely remember anything." Then she continued, "Perhaps I felt your life was more valuable than mine. You are the son of a King, and I am only half elf, a daughter with the stained blood of a traitor to his own people and to yours, also. I cannot explain it."

Legolas wanted to press her for more of her past, but he knew her mind was in no condition to relive the pain flickering in her eyes. He merely took her cold hand in his and whispered, "If you ever think again that you are less worthy to live than any other, you are seriously mistaken." 

She smiled suddenly, her face brightening. But something in the back of her mind wondered, _why is he suddenly so kind to me? I saved his life, yes, but I could have sworn there was something that made him show fear or hatred toward me. A feeling that strong could never be erased. _"Where am I?" she asked, suddenly looking around.

"Lothlorien," he replied, "the realm of the High Elves. They helped to heal you."

"I have heard of this place," she said. "Will you take me to the Lady Galadriel? I need to thank her…and there are other things I must know."

Legolas nodded, though reluctant to interrupt her rest, and led her down the winding staircases to the altar. She looked fearful suddenly, and more pale, but he gave her a look of reassurance, and she stepped up to the altar where the Lady was waiting.

*****

The Lady was standing, her eyes closed and her hands folded in silent prayer. She looked up to see Ellwyn standing before her quite timidly, then stood without a word and began to walk down a staircase that led to a garden. Ellwyn looked after her for a few moments and turned back to Legolas. He mouthed the words, "Follow her," and walked away. She stepped nimbly down the staircase after Galadriel, watching how the Lady moved so fluidly, always encased in a white light. 

Finally, Galadriel stopped in a small alcove where there was a large rock shaped like a bowl. The Lady walked over to a silver pitcher, then filled it with the clear water that was running down into a pool. She gracefully poured the water into the pool and waited for the water to settle. Then, with a calm yet commanding voice, said, "Daughter of elf and man, look into the mirror."

Ellwyn could not help but step up to the water. Something was irresistibly drawing her to it, and she leaned over the edge, staring into the water. At first, there was nothing. She looked up, suddenly and fearfully at the Lady. "What will I see?"

"Things that have come and gone, things that are, and some things you will find that have not yet come to pass." Galadriel was watching her intently, like a falcon spying its prey.

Ellwyn bent back over the pool of water and held her breath while the water began to ripple on its own. The waves became bigger, and then smoothed suddenly. An image of her home at the Long Lake appeared. A small girl ran from the house and straight into the water until it reached to her knees. She was weeping and screaming, "Father! Father, where are you? Come back!" Then the image faded away into the ripples again. Ellwyn squinted, seeing a figure of a back turned to her. The figure was wearing a greenish gray cloak and had silky blonde hair. It turned, and she was able to see his face. "Legolas," she whispered. He turned and looked at her, a desperate look written on his face. He was saying her name, calling to her, but Ellwyn could hear nothing. He fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. Then his image faded, also. Ellwyn stared harder into the glassy water. Then she gasped and her eyes widened.

  
She could see a man's face. The man appeared old; his face was lined with age and he looked tired, but there was a loving kindness in his eyes. He smiled at her and she smiled back through tears. "Father…" she whispered, as if he could hear her. But the image twisted suddenly, and his face darkened. His dark black eyes like hers were suddenly glowing white and his mouth formed a twisted grin. Ellwyn cried out and tore her gaze from the frightening image. Something in her forced her to look back, after a moment.

She saw her father, the kindness restored to his eyes, falling into the depths of darkness. Then her own self appeared at the top of the chasm, reaching out to him hopelessly. Her image suddenly convulsed and threw itself down after her father. Ellwyn felt herself drawn into the darkness, falling, falling endlessly. She was screaming, and the darkness had almost enveloped her completely. Ellwyn shut her eyes with as much might as she could muster, and threw herself away from the mirror. She lay on the ground, gasping for air, then stared up at the Lady with wondering eyes. Galadriel was still watching her, but looked astonished now.

"What…what was that?" Ellwyn said breathlessly.

The Lady was silent for a few moments. "You have seen what would happen if your father were to be killed."

"What?" she cried.

Galadriel paused and looked straight into her eyes. Her gaze made Ellwyn feel a chill run down her spine. "Do you want to hear the truth?"

"Yes," Ellwyn said with a certainty that even surprised herself.

"Your father was on a journey near the black lands when he was captured by Orcs. He begged and pleaded for them to spare his life, for he had no courage to let himself be slain. They brought him to Sauron, who must have believed it useful to have servants that could travel freely in the world, unlike the Orcs. In order to ensure your father's loyalty, the dark lord must have taken his soul. Your father captured his wife in the raid of Mirkwood, so many years ago, and brought her to Sauron. Sauron drained Thuwen of her soul and poured it into your father's body… So your father cannot be slain. He possesses the immortality of the elves." 

She continued, after a pause, "I have known this for some time, but now that I have seen what the mirror showed you, I am aware of a weakness. For in all perfection there is always a flaw. He can be slain by anyone who carries his blood."

Ellwyn stared at her. "But why did the mirror show me falling with him?"

"Sauron owns his soul, and the souls of those who have the same blood as him. Thus you, like your father, have also the blood of Sauron's servants. You will be killed by the ties of blood when your father is slain." Galadriel spoke the last sentence quietly, watching the young girl. To her surprise, the girl did not falter or try to abandon her journey. The daughter of both races bowed her head and closed her eyes, as if accepting her fate. Galadriel thought, _The girl is giving up on life. The son of Thranduil must keep his distance, for he will be in grave danger if he strays too close to one who has so hopelessly thrown away her life to a hopelessly dark fate._

Ellwyn backed away, not knowing what to say, then disappeared into the winding staircase again. An elf turned his gaze in alarm and watched her descend from the city. She suddenly looked up and met his gaze briefly, then disappeared again. Legolas knew he had seen a flicker of pain in her eyes. He leapt from the bridge lightly and ran to the alcove where Galadriel was standing.

"Where does she go?" he asked almost desperately.

"To her father."

************************************************************************

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com 

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	4. Chasing Darkness

****

Chapter Four: Chasing Darkness

By Ellwyn J 

"Wait," Legolas breathed out quietly to the silent form of the Lady Galadriel standing before him, "why does she leave?" _Why does she leave without me?_ he wanted to ask.

It was a moment before Galadriel replied. "Why? Because the girl has seen many things that have shown her the way lying before her. She knows her path, but do you know yours, son of Thranduil?" 

At the question, the distracted look in Legolas' eyes suddenly gave way to confusion. He stared at the Lady. "Why would you ask me…"

"Because I see that inside, you yearn terribly to follow her, but you know that there must have been a reason for her leaving without the company she traveled here with."

Galadriel was watching him intently, and he felt that her cold blue eyes pierced through his mind. He knew he had to ask, but he feared what he would hear if he did. Finally, he said, in the lowest whisper as if careful not to speak the words too loud, "Let me see what she saw."

"You know you cannot," the Lady replied, sighing. "Nor can I show it to you. You may only see it if you learn it from the one who has seen it all." It was as if she was uttering the words that placed the final link into his decision. 

The black tunic, boots, and dark green cloak were already missing from the chair on which they had rested on just a few minutes earlier in the empty tower. The ash bow was gone, also. There was nothing she had left behind. But Legolas' eyes still searched the room hastily, then halted on a spot of the wall on which there were words scrawled. He looked closer and read, "Diola lle, Legolas. Ú-aphado nin, herin." Thank you, Legolas. I ask of you not to follow. 

The elf clenched his jaw. He leapt from the room, lightly running down the steps. He knew he had no horse, but he was an elf, an elf that could track swiftly, he reminded himself. Legolas, without another look back at the silver city, ran out into the golden trees.

*****

The sun had set hours before, and the moon was high in the night sky, but a layer of clouds hid the light it gave off. Legolas had been running tirelessly in the darkness, in the direction he thought she would take, until he had seen a fire lit somewhere near the shores of the Great River. He had chased in that direction as quickly as he could, but once he neared the camp, he slowed his pace. He approached cautiously, aware to every sound in the still night air. The fire had already died away into glowing embers and the camp was abandoned. He cursed under his breath. Already twice had he thought he had almost overtaken the girl, but she moved quicker than he did on her horse. He stepped into the ring of the dying light and bent low to pick up a handful of ashes. They were still warm, and he let them run through his fingers. He closed his eyes in frustration. It was an endless chase, and he had not even stopped to name the reason that drew him irresistibly to follow. He shook his head angrily and shut his eyes. But the bright blue eyes soon flew open, for a blade of cold steel was resting against his cheek. It was pressing into his face lightly, threateningly. He barely breathed and dared not turn around. Careless, stupid. He had let his guard down and let someone steal near him without his noticing, just as he had been doing ever since he embarked on the journey to act as 'protection' for the girl, although it was clear she did not believe she needed it. He bit down angrily on his lower lip as the blade bit further into his cheek and a soft voice whispered in the silence.

" Ú-anírannen cîn aphadad nin. I asked you not to follow. Why did you?" 

Legolas inhaled sharply at the sound of her voice and turned his head quickly as the knife she was holding to his cheek was lowered. She was standing above him, her face hidden by shadows. He stood very slowly, but remained silent still.

"Legolas…" she whispered, and the sound of her tired voice washed over him. He stepped forward and reached for her hand, holding it in his. "Go back. I left alone and I intend to journey alone."

"And alone you will journey," he said finally, "but with me."

The clouds suddenly parted and moonlight streamed through to clothe the valley of the Anduin in a faint, silvery light. Ellwyn's face looked tired and her eyes were distressed. She looked away. "I want you to go back," she said, the words tearing at her mind, making her want to scream out for him to come. Ever since she had left Lorien, she had felt her loneliness tugging at her. She tried to force it out of her mind, but all she could think of was that she was heading straight into certain doom, and completely alone. 

For Legolas, the words had barely reached his ears, and he ignored them. Ellwyn was suddenly conscious of his fingers caressing her hand. She tried to draw it away but he held it tighter. He saw the sadness and quiet want in her eyes and knew then the reason why he had had to chase her so desperately. "Amin il'autuva," he said resolutely, "ten' le milin."

Ellwyn was looking at him again, but questioningly, for she knew only the Elvish words she had learned from the Lady in order to leave the message. 

Legolas knew she was mortal and born of a union that had faced a dark destiny from the beginning. She was beautiful, but not as beautiful in comparison with others he had seen. But something drew him to her. He had never seen so much despair in anyone, for it seemed that she had abandoned all hope. He had never seen so much need in a person, and he had never felt such a strong feeling as his need to help her.

"I will not go," he translated finally, "because I love you."

Her brow furrowed and she backed away in shock. But a shadow passed over her face and astonishment turned to fear. She looked at him with so much distress that he felt a great wave of pity come over him. He stepped closer to her and gazed deeply into her dark eyes. "Please," he whispered, "let me come with you." Legolas placed a hand lightly on the small of her back and drew her slowly closer to him. She resisted at first, but suddenly tears filled her eyes and she melted into his waiting arms, crying into his shoulder. All the sorrow, grief, and need she had borne for her entire life, she poured into her tears. She crumpled to the ground and Legolas followed with her, so that they were sitting next to the silent, flowing waters of the Anduin, his arms enveloping her, protecting her from everything: her fears, her past, her heritage, and her future. She forgot everything, wrapped in his warm embrace. He ran his fingers through her hair and stroked her back, murmuring comforting words to her. Finally, after what had seemed like many moments, she quieted and stirred slightly in his arms. She pulled away and hastily wiped her eyes. 

" Ellwyn, nathan anneg a methen." Ellwyn, I am with you until the end. But as he whispered the words into her ear, pledging his heart and self completely to her, he did not realize that for her, the end already drew near. 

****************************************************************************

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	5. Will You Wait For Me?

****

Chapter Five: Will You Wait For Me?

By Ellwyn J 

The elf lay awake, staring blankly up at the canopy of stars overhead. Legolas could tell the girl encircled in his arms was in a deep sleep by the sound of her calm breathing. He, too, wanted to sleep, to forget everything for a night and to dream under the stars. But his mind kept him vigilant and he sat, engrossed in his thoughts.

He saw her riding again into Mirkwood, into their city, surrounded by his kindred. He saw her dismounting, and the cold glare she had given him. He saw her breathlessly admiring the beauty of the woods. She had been haughty and capricious, glaring at everything with defiance. He had known there was something behind that image, and it seemed now that it had finally resurfaced. But now, after finding her again, there was a great shadow always looming over her. He had felt the anxiety and suffering when she was sobbing in his arms. She was changed now, but not the way he had hoped she would: now, when he looked into her eyes, he saw a look of utter hopelessness. 

Legolas sighed, leaned back onto the rock he had been sitting against, and listened to the calmly gliding waters of the Anduin, attempting to still his mind. Finally, he dropped off to sleep, soothed by the sounds of the wilderness he loved and by the quiet breathing of the sleeping girl.

*****

Durwyn had watched Legolas jump from the tower and disappear from the city with a despairing expression on his face. He beckoned for Arod to follow him and went to the alcove, just moments after his prince had dashed away, leaving the Lady to sit in quiet pondering. They both kneeled before Galadriel.

  
Durwyn asked in a hesitant whisper, "Nîn arwen, iad nant mîn ernil?" My Lady, where has our prince gone? Galadriel's eyes opened and a look of sorrow swept over her ivory face. 

She did not reply for many a moment, so Arod added, "And the half-Elven girl we came with. What has become of her?"

"They have departed. They travel on their own path, now." The Lady sounded tired when she spoke. "You must leave upon yours."

"But we had journeyed this far to seek revenge for the pain inflicted on our beloved ones…" Durwyn interjected, but was stopped by a sigh from Galadriel.

"The suffering they endured was indeed tragic," she said calmly, "but do not bring more pain into this world that has borne a great many sorrows. Follow the road back to your home. There is nothing that remains for you to do." The finality in her voice made it feel impossible for the two Silvan elves to do naught other than she decreed. They nodded in resignation, realizing there was something happening that they should not interfere with.

*****

The sun had barely shone itself above the horizon of the mountains in the east. It was bright but the morning air was cold and damp, and Legolas could feel Ellwyn shivering beneath her cloak. They had been riding for more than an hour now, her in front, directing Phaere, and Legolas behind her, his arms around her waist. He held her closer and she relaxed noticeably. Resting his head on her shoulder so that his cheek was pressed near hers, his mind drifted to his thoughts the previous night. 

Legolas asked, very softly as if careful not to disturb the peacefulness of their surroundings, "Why did you leave alone?"

Although he could not see her face, he felt her shift slightly and she turned her head away. He pulled his head back and moved his hand to her hand, warming her cold fingers with his. "Why did you leave?" he asked again, a trace of annoyance in his voice. "I wanted to protect you. Arod and Durwyn wanted to avenge the suffering of their families and friends…do you not think it selfish of you to go on without them?"

Selfish? Ellwyn smiled bitterly, though he still could not see her face. She looked down at her hands buried in Phaere's mane and then at Legolas' long fingers resting on her waist. If anything, it was far from selfish. More like selflessness. _Oh, Legolas, there is so much you do not know, that I so wish to tell you. But you will never know or understand until it is too late…_ Why did he have to come? Why did she let him? She felt a miserable aching in her heart, and guilt pounded into her head. She was grateful he was there; his presence was so comforting and she had regretted having to leave him. When she saw the love and warmth in his eyes she wanted to tell him everything and to make him go back, to leave her alone once more, as she should be. But she could never tell him, because he would only insist for her to turn back then. He would never understand the anguish she had endured since she could remember. He could never feel as alone as she did, or feel the despair in her heart. He would never understand her need to find her father. 

"I wanted to be alone," she replied finally. She could tell Legolas was not satisfied by her answer because he sat back slightly. 

"Aníron istad eg," he breathed, lowering his face so that his lips brushed against the curve of her neck when he spoke.

"I do not understand," she replied with a hint of irritation. She wanted to yell out, 'stop tormenting me with the beautiful words of your language and the touch of your skin,' but she bit down on her lower lip.

"I want to know you," he said quietly, after a pause in which he kissed her cheek lightly. 

__

I want you to know me too, she thought,_ to share it all with me. Share with me the pain, the anger, the frustration…the love._ Ellwyn shook her head and sat forward, pulling away. 

Legolas felt a deep ache in the recesses of his heart. "Ellwyn, stop it. Accept someone's love for once. You cannot live your entire life without trusting someone. You cannot live on your own."

She flinched at the harshness in his voice. He knew that his words would smart, and she could not blame him for saying so, for she, in turn, had caused him so much more hurt. "Legolas…there are things you do not understand, nor can you know of them. I left you because of them, and I wish you would have left when I asked you to."

Legolas sighed. He could see the hills of the Emyn Muil to the west across the river and could hear the roaring of the Falls in the distance. He knew there were things she had locked within her that she would not share. "Ellwyn," he said, "I would never have gone back no matter how you begged me--"

He was interrupted by an unnatural sound of a bird squawking overhead. They looked up simultaneously and saw a black bird circling the air a few hundred feet above them. Ellwyn halted Phaere and twisted around to face Legolas. He returned her worried glance. "Craban," he muttered. 

"What?" 

"A black bird. They are spies of the dark, servants of Sauron. It has seen us."

"But couldn't we be mistaken…? It might be just--" she stopped when it turned and flew straight in the direction of Minas Morgul. 

"No," he said with finality, "it flies to the black lands to tell of our coming. Once we cross over the mouths of the Entwash, we will be in Orc territory."

*****

The night air was cold and biting. The moon had completely disappeared behind threatening gray clouds that shrouded the entire dome of the sky, but there was a hint of silvery light that still shone through. Ellwyn shivered and pulled her cloak around her. They could not light a fire, for they could not risk being found by the spies of Sauron or even the men of the southwest lands. Legolas sat resting against an outcropping of stones, and she could tell even in the darkness that he was watching her. She began to feel the sense of despair that always came over her at night, just as it had years ago upon the Long Lake. Her eyes were beginning to water and sting at the lifeless air and she shut them tightly. She sat there, huddled against her knees, for quite some time, fighting against the will to let all her secrets out in a torrential wave of sobs. 

A hand lifted her chin and then rested on her cheek. She opened her eyes slowly to see Legolas kneeling before her, a look of the utmost concern and love in his eyes. The elf was so in tune with everything that he even noticed her discomfort in the black of the night, and she found herself wondering about the seasons and times he had seen in his extended life. She asked in a very small voice, "Legolas, will you tell me a story of your people?" Ellwyn felt utterly stupid, thinking she sounded like a child begging to be comforted with a story at night. 

But Legolas sat down next to her and then began in a quiet, soothing tone, "An Elven-maid there was of old, and she was called Nimrodel. She was beautiful and fairest of her people, and there was an elf that fell deeply in love with her. His name was Amroth, and he was an Elven-king of Lothlorien…he disappeared into the sea, looking for Nimrodel, and never was seen again by his people. Nimrodel's kindred left their dwellings and departed, and she was lost far in the South, in the passes of the White Mountains. She came not to the ship were Amroth waited for her. But in the spring when the wind is in the new leaves the echo of her voice may still be heard by the falls that bear her name. And when the wind is in the South the voice of Amroth comes up from the sea; for Nimrodel flows into the Silverlode, that Elves call Celebrant, and Celebrant into Anduin the Great," he paused to beckon to the great waters of the river near which they were sitting. "And Anduin flows into the Bay of Belfalas whence the Elves of Lorien set sail. But neither Nimrodel nor Amroth ever returned. It is said that she had a house built in the branches of a tree that grew near the falls, and maybe she dwells there still."

Ellwyn smiled, his warmth washing over her in waves. She closed her eyes as she listened to his quiet voice, and lost herself so completely that she did not realize when Legolas stopped speaking. When she opened her eyes he was gazing into her face, one hand resting on her leg and the other buried in her hair. Her eyes widened as he leaned in closer, and she could detect the faintest trace of the pungent scent of the woods. Then his lips closed over hers, enveloping her in sweetness. He pulled away and caressed her face. 

"That was a beautiful story," she murmured, "but did Amroth ever see Nimrodel again?"

"Perhaps," said Legolas, a smile playing across his face, "perhaps he could only find her once more in his own dreams, and forever he waited at the Mouths of the Anduin for her to run into his waiting arms. And so he waits now, as he will for many years to come…maybe a day not far from now, she will hear him calling for her and travel down the Anduin to the one who loves her."

  
In the faint light she saw him grin, and she smiled inwardly at his innocent charm. Legolas sat back again, relaxing, his arm around her shoulders. "Will you wait for me there, when I am gone?" she asked quietly after a moment of silence. But he had already drifted into the fields of dreams.

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	6. Crossing of the Anduin

****

Chapter Six: The Crossing of the Anduin

By Ellwyn J 

The waters of the Anduin where they merged with the Entwash were tranquil. But under the smooth, flawless surface, there were sharp outcroppings of rocks and small but treacherous maelstroms that pulled at anything in the water with a terrible force. Legolas had seldom seen the regions this far south from his forest home, and he sat, kneeling next to the water for quite some time. He gazed into the water deeply, as if he were trying to penetrate its smooth surface to see what really was hidden beneath, to no avail. Finally he straightened and turned around to look at the disconcerted girl standing nearby with the black horse.

"It looks easy to cross," Ellwyn input timidly, "and shallow enough to ford through."

The elf nodded and looked back at the dark water. "It does. But looks can be deceiving. I cannot see where exactly, but I think the bottom drops off out there," he pointed to the midsection of the wide river, "and I do not know how deep it will get."

Ellwyn looked at the great river with much uneasiness. "If we have to swim, then we will," she replied after a moment's pause, "I spent my life in a city on the water."

"I doubt that you will have any trouble," he admitted quietly, "but I too rarely have had to swim across such a wide expanse of water. And then there is Phaere…"

"She can swim when she has to. I can lead her across," Ellwyn said confidently.

Legolas nodded. "Nothing will come of us standing here debating whether to cross…we may as well go now," he said with a sigh. He slung his bow and quiver off and walked over to Phaere to tie them to her harness. Then he began unbuttoning his green and brown tunic. Ellwyn watched him quietly, wide-eyed.

"What are you doing?" she managed to ask finally.

He raised his eyes to meet her stare. "What do you mean? If we have to swim against the currents, our clothes will only hinder us. And it is still cold…dry clothes will do us good when we reach the other side." He saw the girl redden, feeling quite foolish at asking such an obvious question, and smiled to himself. "Avo gosto," he said reassuringly, "ú -tirithon na le ae ú-anírag."

Ellwyn looked at him in frustration. "You know I do not understand your words," she bit out at him.

He laughed. "I just told you not to worry; I will not look at you if you do not wish it so."

She blushed even more and muttered a quiet, "oh," then watched speechlessly as he slid the tunic off his shoulders to reveal his lean shoulders and well built chest. Then he removed his light boots and slung them over Phaere's back and, in doing so, caught Ellwyn gazing at him. She hastily averted her eyes and he grinned at her, causing her to flush scarlet. He continued looking at her, and Ellwyn found herself wondering why he had not begun to swim across yet. Then she realized he was waiting for her so they could cross together to help each other and Phaere. She wanted to slap herself for standing there so stupidly.

Ellwyn reached up and undid the silver clasp shaped like a leaf that held part of her hair back in the Elven fashion. Legolas watched all her dark ebony hair fall to her shoulders before she pulled it all up, twisted it atop her head, and used the clasp to hold it there. Then she removed her cloak and slid her bow off her shoulders just as he had done, hooking them onto the horse's harness. She took off her black gloves and boots and undid the ties that attached her sleeves to her tunic so that her arms were laid bare against the biting cold air. 

She turned to face Legolas, who was still watching her. "I thought you said you would not look," she said with a hint of playfulness.

It was his turn to blush, but she saw a smile flitting across his lips, and he walked over to stand behind her. He kissed her shoulder and entwined his fingers in hers. Ellwyn shrugged him off. "We have a river to cross," she said.

Legolas nodded, showing only the smallest trace of his hurt at being shrugged off. Ellwyn took Phaere's harness and led her into the water until she was standing knee deep. Legolas followed on the other side of the horse. 

When they were standing in the water up to their waists, he saw her beginning to lose her balance and reached out to steady her, putting an arm around her waist. He could fee her shivering in the icy water and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "We must get across quickly unless we are to freeze," he said. Ellwyn replied by immersing herself completely in the water, crying out softly with pain as she did so. The water stabbed at her like millions of knives. She began to swim out quickly, leading the hesitant horse to the deepest areas of the river. Legolas followed as best he could, finding that the bottom of the river had long since dropped away. 

They were more than halfway across when Phaere began to thrash, fighting the current that had caught her and was pulling her under. Ellwyn turned and held onto the horse's harness while Legolas vainly tried to push Phaere to safe waters. The horse kicked out with her forelegs suddenly, and Legolas heard a cry on the other side of Phaere. The horse was out of the undercurrent now and was already nearing the bank. He searched with his eyes desperately where Ellwyn had been last, but the water there was calm again, and he was swiftly being carried to the other side by the fast flowing water. He fought hard against the current and sharply drew in a breath before diving headfirst under water, his heart pounding.

The water was dark, and Legolas could see almost nothing but shadows, even with his keen Elven eyes. He reached around wildly, hoping desperately to find the unconscious girl. His lungs were beginning to ache for air, and he felt his vision clouding. Legolas felt completely helpless. He tried to shout out her name by reflex, but only a burst of bubbles issued from his mouth. His lungs screamed at him, and just as he was about to kick back to the surface against his will, his fingers brushed against something soft. He looked down to see Ellwyn, floating in the water near him, her eyes fluttering as if she was trying to say something. Legolas quickly pulled her to him and kicked upwards with all his might.

Legolas finally reached the shore, dragging himself with the last of his strength onto the sandy bank. He choked on the sharp air that eased the pain of his lungs. Phaere was standing a few feet away, eyeing her master curiously, who was lying on the sand next to the elf, unconscious. Legolas bent over her and listened for her breathing, finding none. Without hesitating, he closed his mouth over hers and breathed into her lifeless body. 

The girl abruptly began to choke. Ellwyn rolled over to her hands and knees and coughed violently, purging her body of mouthfuls of water. Exhausted, she collapsed on the sand once more and lay there, gasping. 

"Mellen, eg mae?" he asked. She raised her eyes with much difficulty to look at him questioningly. "My dear, are you well?" he translated softly, beckoning the horse to come. He took Ellwyn's cloak from the horse and carefully draped it over her shivering body. 

She tried to smile, although it came out to be more of a grimace, and managed to choke out, "Vea mae vea harthui aen, mellen. As well as I can be."

He grinned warmly and helped her sit up, then reached up to take the rest of their clothes from Phaere's pack. He dried himself off and dressed quickly, then tied the sleeves of Ellwyn's tunic back on and helped her into her boots. Her hair had fallen out when Phaere had kicked her and now it was hanging about her face in wet strands. Legolas used her cloak to rub her hair thoroughly. She reached up with shivering fingers for the clasp that was not there.

"It was lost in the river," he replied, seeing her distress. She nodded, biting down on her lip. It had been the last remembrance she had of her old life, the silver leaf that her father gave her, telling her it had been her mother's. Ellwyn shoved her memories into the back of her head, reminding herself that this was no time to be lamenting over the past. She felt her strength returning and stood with some effort. Legolas draped the cloak over her shoulders and fastened it with her silver brooch for her, then raised her chin with his hand and gazed steadfastly into her eyes. 

"I thought I had lost you in the river as well," he said, his voice trembling. Suddenly Legolas embraced her tightly, pressing his face against her still wet hair.

Ellwyn felt warmth spread through her as he held her, and she felt herself relaxing slightly. But something nagged in the back of her mind. She saw the fear and sudden need in his eyes, and couldn't help but think how he would react when her destiny was suddenly revealed to him at the unfinished tower of Cirith Ungol. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted their journey to last forever, just to be with Legolas and forget everything. She let him hold her for a moment longer, then pulled herself away from his desperate embrace. 

"We must reach Minas Morgul," she reminded him gently, "before the tower is completed, or my father will disappear into the black lands once more."

Legolas shook himself out of his reverie and looked into her dark determined eyes. "Yes," he replied, although he did not want to be reminded of the journey ahead of them.

Ellwyn sighed and stroked her horse's nose. "Don't ever do that again," she whispered to her, and it seemed to Legolas that Phaere cast her eyes down in guilt. The half Elven girl smiled and climbed onto the horse's back. Legolas followed.

*****

They were traveling through the grasslands of the Nindalf now, and the air was dry and crisp. The day drew to an end as the sun dipped below the horizon. Ellwyn looked out at the dark, jagged mountains to the east and shivered. Those mountains, the Ephel Duath, loomed formidably to remind her constantly that she was nearing the end of her journey, and of her life, if she were to succeed in finding her father. There were still many leagues across the plains and the lands of North Ithilien to the dark tower that was being built, but she was closer now than she had ever dreamed to be. 

Legolas felt her trembling and held her closer, nestling his face in her dark hair, which now hung loosely about her shoulders. "Man raeg, mellen?" he whispered, then said, "What is wrong?"

Before she could reply, a shrill cry echoed from behind a hill. They both froze and Phaere began to paw the ground restlessly. Legolas scanned the horizon carefully, shielding his eyes from the bright sun's light. His keen ears picked up the sound of many feet trampling the grass, and he slid off the horse. He reached back to take an arrow and notched his bow.

A line of dark, bent figures suddenly appeared on the horizon. Legolas stood ready, and Ellwyn sat motionless. The figures approached. "_Yrch_," the elf bit out with disgust. He took aim as the Orcs, spotting the rider and elf, ran towards them with ferocious cries that pierced the still air. Ellwyn shuddered at their filthy gray faces and the horrible sounds they made. But she could discern a few of the horrible sounds and realized what one of them was saying. A larger one halted the band of Orcs, which consisted of about twenty of the creatures. It spoke in its ugly tongue and pointed to Ellwyn. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

Then she noticed Legolas was tensing his arm and was about to let the arrow fly. She quickly put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, and he looked up at her, bewildered. 

"They will kill us!" he said fiercely.

"No," she replied with finality, and turned Phaere to face the leader of the Orcs. 

It spoke and she caught a few words, piecing them together. Their leader had known of the approach of two riders upon one horse from the northwest, and had sent them to receive the intruders. Obviously it had been the work of the black bird they had seen earlier. Then the Orc muttered in its horrible language of jargon that they had been told to bring the riders straight to the tower, where their master could confront the two. 

All this while, Legolas stood, fighting back the urge to kill them. They were at such a close range and the Orcs had grouped around them, surrounding them from all sides. Legolas felt a mounting fear and stared at Ellwyn as if trying to understand what was in her mind. 

Then the Orc was silent, and Ellwyn spoke into the frigid air. What Legolas heard was the language of the Orcs, coming from the mouth of the girl he loved. He wanted to shut out the hated sounds but could only stare in fear and great astonishment at Ellwyn. Legolas bit down hard on his lower lip and drew in a shaky breath. Finally, she stopped speaking and the Orc standing in front of her motioned to several of the Orcs standing nearby. Ellwyn dismounted.

She handed them her weapons and they quickly wrenched her arms painfully behind her back and bound her wrists together with a rough rope. Legolas opened his mouth in protest but was silenced at a fierce look from Ellwyn. With much effort, he slung his bow and quiver on the ground and let the Orcs bind him roughly. Then the Orcs pushed the two of them briskly and they began to march, across the gray plains, towards the break in the Ephel Duath where the building of the dark tower was almost completed.

*****************************************************************************

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	7. The Path to the Tower

****

Chapter Seven: The Path to the Tower

By Ellwyn J 

They had marched for nearly a day and a half, resting only shortly at night before the Orcs began to drag her once more towards the mountains of shadow that did not seem so distant any longer. Ellwyn felt as if her legs were made of lead; it was so excruciatingly painful just to put one foot in front of the other. She felt the blood drying on her wrists where the rough bindings had cut into her skin. The dry grasslands of the Nindalf were completely barren, as were the grey skies above, for the sun refused to pour its light over the peaks of the Ephel Duath. She had not seen Legolas for many hours: the group of Orcs had split in two, and she suspected he was several miles behind where they were. 

Finally, her knees gave out and she collapsed to the ground, tears in her eyes. _What have I gotten myself into? And, Legolas…_ Ellwyn began to sob silently and she fell to her side on the perishing grass, struggling to breathe while staring up at the prosaic sky. A nearby Orc attempted to wrench her up again by the bindings on her arms, but she refused to move. The larger Orc that was obviously the leader of the pack motioned for the group to stop, and bent down to look into Ellwyn's despondent face as if to decide whether she was fit to continue traveling.

Ellwyn knew she had the strength to persist, but her spirit had completely given way and she had lost hope of ever seeing light or comfort again. Since she had lost sight of Legolas, she had almost lost all will to live and had forgotten why she was wandering with a band of Orcs in the wastelands so near Mordor. Her face was pressed in the grass and she lay motionless for such a while that the Orcs finally halted and made camp. 

After regaining her breath and senses, which took the most part of an hour, she shifted so that she could see the small fire where the Orcs were gathered, eating and jabbering in their horrid language. She noticed that the number of Orcs had doubled—obviously the other group had caught up with them in the time she had lain there. Ellwyn forced herself to sit up with much effort and looked around curiously. Then her gaze finally rested upon the elf, sitting perhaps only a few feet away from her.

Legolas had been watching her for quite some time, not certain of whether she was conscious. His sharply featured face wore the look of one that had been under much stress for a long period of time, and it was now drawn back in a look of utmost concern. He hesitated before whispering barely audibly, "Mellen, reno, im sí anneg uirebui. My dear, do not forget, I am here with you always. I feared the worst when I arrived here and you did not move for so long."

Ellwyn felt her heart stir to life once more and she smiled gratefully through tears. Despite the fact that he looked somewhat worn out, his presence, his mere gaze and his voice were reassuring to her. "Diola lle, Legolas. Diola lle…for everything." Her words had so much more behind them. She wanted to apologize for everything she had brought him into, and wanted just to lie and be comforted in his arms again. She shut her eyes and let the tears stream down her soiled cheeks.

Legolas wanted so much to reach out and gently wipe away her tears, but the bindings held his arms steadfastly. "Ellwyn," he said, louder, "I do not regret for a moment that I am here with you. I want to be with you, no matter where it takes me." _I want to protect you, no matter what I must do to save you, _he did not say.

"Legolas…" she murmured quietly, unable to think of any words. They gazed at each other with an unspoken connection, a bond that could never be broken. 

Legolas closed his eyes, feeling a rush of warmth run through his body. He had never loved someone so painfully before, and his heart felt lighter than it had ever been, yet weighted with an unbearable, heavy sadness. He saw the quiet sadness lingering in her eyes, and the secrets she could never reveal to him. He wanted so much just to bury his face in her hair, inhale her scent, wrap his arms around her and let her cry, let her pour her entire soul out to him, once more. He wanted to hold her and tell her that nothing, not even her past or her destiny, could come between them. But he knew she could never accept it as the truth, and as long as she did not, neither could he. 

An approaching Orc, who cast a small bit of dried meat and two loaves of stale, hardened bread on the ground before them, interrupted his thoughts. It then drew a short knife and cut their bonds, none too gently, so that they could eat. It stood watching over them so that they could not make any move to escape under its watchful eye and its threateningly poised knife. 

At first, Ellwyn merely sat, watching the elf solemnly. But Legolas pushed both loaves of the bread to her, casting away the piece of meat. "Never touch the meat an Orc offers to you," he whispered. She turned her head, rejecting the food, but he took it and tore it into smaller bits, holding it up for her. "You must eat," he said, then assured her, "I do not need it."

Finally she opened her hand and took the stale bread from him and carefully swallowed it, feeling it slide painfully down her dry throat. Then she turned to stare at the Orc standing above them. 

She spoke to it, and Legolas again shuddered, a chill running down his spine. _"She is of elven descent, yes, but there is an inherent evil I sense in her…"_ Legolas was suddenly reminded of Galadriel's words, hearing the malice in the language Ellwyn was speaking. He quickly shrugged the suspicion away. _"But I do not suspect her of any evil,"_ he had said in response to the Lady's words. He knew his feelings were true, yet he could not ignore the fact that in the girl there was the dark blood of an ill-fated union. What would she do if she were offered the chance to join her father?

"Your master would not approve of mistreating us. You must let us walk with our hands free," she said angrily in the Orc-tongue to the creature standing above her.

The Orc shrieked with laughter and told her between fits of laughter that she was delirious. Ellwyn narrowed her eyes and Legolas bristled at the hideous dissonance of its laughter. 

"You can tell your master that his _daughter_ comes to him," she said commandingly, "and she refuses to be handled like another of his slaves." 

The Orc stopped shrieking and glowered at her with widened eyes, as if wondering whether to believe her or not. She reached down her tunic and slowly pulled out a silver chain on which a blackening silver leaf hung. The Orc obviously recognized the icon, for it suddenly backed away in surprise. 

Ellwyn glared at it. "Leave us be and we will go without trouble to your master." Then the Orc dashed quickly back to the others around the fire, telling them what he had heard and witnessed. The Orcs stared at Ellwyn for a while with an unspeakable fear in their twisted faces, then they turned away and resumed their chatter, but more subdued than before.

Ellwyn sighed and lowered her eyes. Legolas was watching her questioningly. "What did you tell it?" he asked finally. 

She looked up. "It recognized the amulet of my mother," she replied, "the same one that my father used to wear…and obviously still does. The Orcs are at least intelligent enough to put two and two together." 

"But…did you not see the fear in their eyes?"

"My father," she said quietly, again staring at the ground, "has changed much. No doubt he is a tyrant to them."

Legolas, finally able to move freely, reached up to caress her face. He remained silent, the words he wanted to say, conveyed in his face instead. Ellwyn rested her head on his shoulder with an exhausted sigh, and he embraced her warmly.

After a silence, he inquired hesitantly, "Where did you learn to speak such an abominable language? No where is it heard but for the areas near the black lands."

"When my father would disappear for long periods of time," she answered, "he would come back and I would hear him speaking to himself in a language I did not understand. Then he began to speak to me like that, unaware of it, and I was forced to learn it after some time if I was to speak with my own father…"

Legolas nodded and held her closer, then kissed her forehead. "Who knew that such a beautiful mouth could utter such vile words," he murmured to himself. "Bain mîlen."

"What?" 

"My beautiful love," he replied simply. He stood, bringing her up with him. "Do not give up hope," he said in response to the despair he saw returning to her eyes, "we are only a day and a night's march from the black tower in the mountains of shadow."

The Orcs were stirring, preparing to depart again, making it obvious that they were avoiding the girl and her companion. Legolas looked upon them with a mounting fear, wondering inwardly what they would have to face when father and daughter were finally reunited.

*****

The almost completed black tower loomed up menacingly, now only a few hours' journey through a pass in the mountains. The march from their last camp to the break in the mountains where the fortress of Minas Morgul rested had been arduous and long, but it was not as harsh as it had been when they had been bound and forced mercilessly to continue if they fell.

The dark fortress was frightening to behold and Legolas felt he was beginning to lose a grip on his senses; they were surrounded by countless hordes of Orcs, goblins, and other dark, unspeakably repulsive creatures. The band of Orcs that led them through the mountain pass now seemed like an insignificant flea to the immensity of the servants of Sauron that swarmed throughout the fortress. 

Ellwyn walked alongside Legolas, unable to bring herself to look about her, for fear of becoming too frightened to continue to her fate. She kept her head down and even when the elf tried to raise her face to look into her eyes, she shook her head and kept trudging behind the line of Orcs. They walked for several miles through the pass that consisted mainly of unstable and sharp black rocks. 

Finally, Ellwyn raised her eyes to look upon the tower they had arrived at, after so many long hours and days of journeying. The vast tower of Cirith Ungol, completed in its building save for a last remnant of unfinished stone near the top. She found herself unable to tear her eyes from it and continued staring at it breathlessly for many moments.

The Orcs leading them quietly dispersed into the tower's several entrances, leaving the elven prince and the half-elven girl to look upon the tower in sheer awe and terror.

It was Legolas who finally broke the silence. "A destiny awaits you, mellen. We should go to meet it."

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com 

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	8. Cirith Ungol

****

Chapter Eight: Cirith Ungol

By Ellwyn J 

Stairs. There were a countless number of stairs that led to the top of the black tower. Ellwyn could only stand and stare at the jagged uneven steps, awestruck. It seemed that the stairs were the final step in her journey, yet they seemed so long and endless. Perhaps those steps were crying out for her to turn away. She could almost see wailing faces reflected in the fading hue of the meager sunlight that reached towards the mountain pass. Then she realized, as a sudden chill swept over her, that the faces she thought she could see were the faces of the men, the elves, the creatures that had been tortured and destroyed by the evil that lurked in and around this tower. She shuddered involuntarily and the faces disappeared as the grey haze covered over the yellow face of the sun, leaving the mountain pass covered in lifelessness. _It's hopeless…I may never find my father in that tower, nor will I be able to confront him. What would I say to him when I saw him? What is to keep him from having his servants kill me the instant he lays eyes on me, or sell my soul to the dark lord in return for power just as he did with my mother?_

Finally she sensed movement to her right side and she tore her petrified gaze away from the foreboding tower. Legolas had stepped forward and turned back to look at her, as if waiting expectantly.

"What do you wait for, Ellwyn?" he asked, questioning her with his soft eyes.

She shook her head and finally found a reply. "I cannot be sure that my father is waiting up there for me…he knows we are here. I do not know what will happen when I go."

The handsome elf at her side nodded understandingly. "Boe angen nad bell," he told her. "You must be brave."

Ellwyn nodded and made an effort to smile reassuringly at him, but he could still discern the anxiety in her eyes. He held out his hands to her and she took them, stepping forward as she did so. They walked towards the archway of the tower where the stairs began. But just before they reached the entrance, a dozen or more Orcs sprang out of hidden crevices in the rock nearby and surrounded them, barring their way to the foot of the steps.

Legolas cursed under his breath in Elvish and felt around for his quiver and bow, but with a sinking heart, realized that his weapons were still in the hands of the enemy. The Orcs closed in on them. One, Ellwyn recognized to be the leader of the Orcs that had brought them from Northern Ithilien to the mountain pass behind Minas Morgul. It tilted its head and made a snarling sound at them both.

"What is going on?" she demanded in the Orc-tongue, absentmindedly fingering the chain at her neck, as if ready to pull out the amulet she shared with her father to prove her sincerity to the creatures.

The Orc laughed at her again, making them both cringe at the sound. "Master ordered it to be so. The elf," it paused to growl at Legolas, who was standing rather restlessly at her side, "stays here. Master says, we obey."

Ellwyn shot a wary and hopeless glance at Legolas, which he returned. He quickly took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as the Orcs moved towards him, brandishing their weapons. "Reno, boe angen nad bell." Remember, you must be brave. She swallowed visibly and felt a growing suspicion. 

So her father was, indeed, here. But she did not have Legolas with her to face him. She had never thought she would have to face him alone, the man that had turned from loving father to a traitorous murderer; she could not face him without the one who had protected her for the entire journey and had continuously given her strength when she needed it. With Legolas, she felt secure, as if she was not susceptible to anything that could possibly harm her. His presence felt like a warm, protective blanket that wrapped over her like his love washed over her when she was in his arms. She could already feel that warmth dissipating as the Orcs bound the struggling elf and pulled him away from her. 

"Remember!" he yelled just before he disappeared into a swarm of Orcs, "be brave, be strong, Ellwyn! They will not harm me. Im anneg." I am with you.

He faded away into a darkened cavern nearby, and the Orcs gradually spread out around the mountain pass, going about on orders, no doubt, from their Master who dwelled in the top of the insurmountable tower. Now only the Orc she spoke with and two others remained with Ellwyn. They stayed away from her, clearly not wanting to harm her against her father's orders. _Legolas is right,_ she told herself firmly, _I have a destiny to meet._ She clenched her jaw and began to ascend the stairs.

*****

The darkness was overwhelming, and it was cold: there was a strong draft blowing through the inside of the tower that bit into her face. She wished her cloak had not been still draped over Phaere when the Orcs had taken her and left the horse in the fortress of Minas Morgul. Ellwyn wanted a light, now more than anything, and wished fervently that the three Orcs skulking behind her would keep their incessant footsteps from echoing so loudly against the steps and walls. 

It seemed she had been climbing forever and her legs felt as if they would drop off with each step, but finally she could see the top of the tower where the roof dropped out to reveal the grey sky beyond. The air felt thin at such a height, or at least she felt it to be thin, for her lungs were straining in the stank air around her. She squinted into the lightening darkness and saw a small door at the top of the stairs. 

Ellwyn felt that she walking in a dream, because her head felt so light and everything she heard was an echo: their footsteps ringing, the sound of her rapid breathing, the door thundering open from the inside just when she was about to timidly push it open, startling her so that she almost fell backwards against the Orcs behind her. She forced herself to look up slowly, but when she did, she found a dark haired man who could have been, but was not, her father. He had a sallow, thin face, yellowish eyes that glared back at her, and his hair hung in thick, soiled strands. He wore tattered black clothing and bore an Orc blade at his side. The man was silent, studying her pale face for quite some time, before he spoke. His voice had an icy, ruthless tone that made her shudder inwardly, and he spoke coyly, as if attempting to bend her mind to him.

"So you are the one," he said, "that the Master has forbade to touch. It has been many years since I have seen another of our kind…the look in your eyes says you are from the Long Lake. I have not forgotten that land…" he paused and his eyes seemed to roll back into his head as he thought, "yes, many years since I have seen one." He began to eye her rather hungrily, and Ellwyn backed away in terror, her mind racing, her heart pounding furiously in her chest. 

But as she moved back, her hair fell and changed its arrangement just enough so that the sallow-faced man could see her ears. He backed away in a sudden fear, his face twisting into a scream that he did not voice.

"You…" he croaked out, "one of them…Master warned us about your kind."

Ellwyn finally found her voice, and she spoke quietly. "No doubt because the Elven people tried to avenge the brutal murder of one of their maidens. But I do not wish harm," she lied, "to the people of my father." She spoke her words with an involuntary trace of scorn, praying he would not notice.

The look of fear mostly faded from the man's eyes, but it lingered there warily. He beckoned to the Orcs barring the way down the stairs. "The Master is in the cavern," he whispered, sounding strangled, "he awaits you there."

She let out a reluctant and frustrated sigh as she brought her gaze down the flights of steps she had finally conquered. She had prepared herself to meet him, only to be told that he waited elsewhere…her stomach twisted at the sight of the drop in the middle of the tower into darkness. If she were to stumble… But she did not want to let herself think of it. Her father still waited.

*****

The man led the way into the cavern that she had seen Legolas disappear into. The cavern was lit dimly by a few torches spread along the walls. They walked along a path against the wall that steeped off into a seemingly endless black chasm that made Ellwyn's heart lurch every time she looked down into it. She peered about for any sign of where the elf was imprisoned. The Orcs passing her on the narrow walkway eyed the man with fear and looked at her with even more. So the news had already spread through the mountain pass that the Master's daughter had come. 

They came to an archway that was guarded by two Orcs who stood rigidly, knives in hand. They let the strange procession through and Ellwyn paled suddenly at the sight before them. The man was leading her across a thin bridge carved from rock, narrower than the walkways they had already crossed. It looked as if the black stone would crumble away at their feet. As she hesitated, the Orcs pushed her from behind and she was forced onto the bridge. She forced herself to stare forwards at the double doors they were approaching.

What lay behind the doors made her breath catch in her throat. It was a vast cavern, lighted brightly by torches lining the walls. There were pools of murky water and, she noticed, as her eyes grew accustomed to the sudden brightness, gems sparkling, wedged in the rock walls. It would have been beautiful, a treasure to the dwarf people, if it were not for the air of pressing evil about the place. The Orcs took their places in front of the door and the man stepped aside. Ellwyn looked up and her heart skipped a beat.

There was a tall man standing on the other side of the cavern with his back turned towards her. He was clothed in black garments just as the man standing to her left, but his clothes were thick and rich, not tattered. The sallow-faced man standing to her side bowed low, and pressed his forehead against the ground before his Master. 

Her father turned around.

The eyes that looked back at her were dark and beautiful, the eyes she remembered in the deepest recesses of her mind. The face was lined with age but possessed a look of unbearable kindness. Her father looked the splitting image of what she had seen in the waters of Galadriel's mirror. When he turned to look at her, a soft cry escaped from his lips and he looked just as startled as his daughter. Ellwyn could not move. She felt as if her feet were glued to the ground, her legs were turned to stone, and her mouth had completely dried out. She stared at him incomprehensibly.

Then he smiled. It was a smile that radiated warmth and fatherly love to her. She felt her heart suddenly lifted of its burden and tears came to her eyes. He stretched out his arms to her. She wanted to run into his arms and feel the loving embrace of her father just as she had so many years ago. And she would have, if not for the small warning lingering in the back of her mind. She had seen the image of this time, this place, before. She knew what would happen if she went to him. But he looked so different, so much like the father she remembered. She felt her legs could move again, and slowly stepped towards him.

She was only a few steps from where her father waited when she heard a shout from outside the doors and many footsteps clattering against the stone. Ellwyn turned away abruptly in the direction of the door. Several shrill Orc cries were heard and then they faded away, as if the Orcs had fallen down that dark chasm. Then the doors burst open and she inhaled sharply. Legolas stood in the doorway, framed by the darkness behind him. His bow was drawn but lowered, his eyes were ablaze with hatred. But then he saw Ellwyn. Legolas' gaze flickered from daughter to father, then from father to daughter again. He stared at the scene before him: the tall, dark-haired man standing with his arms outstretched, the girl only a few steps away, and the small thin man nearest him, crumpled in a heap on the floor.

This all took but a moment and the Orcs standing sentry suddenly drew their weapons at the sight of Legolas. But they were too late, having been taken in shock, and all three were killed; Legolas fired a swift and deadly arrow at the largest one and drew his knives to hew through the necks of the remaining two in one fluid motion. Then he stopped and stared with widened eyes at Ellwyn, breathing hard, holding his knives at his sides readily. She stared, just as astonished, right back at him.

And then Ellwyn was suddenly reminded of her father standing behind her by a squeal from the servant near the door. The thin man shrieked suddenly, "Master! They will betray--" but he was cut short by an arrow released from the elf's bow, which lodged in the small space between his eyes. He fell back with a sickening thud as Ellwyn turned around, slowly, cautiously. What she saw made her want to scream, and she backed away in terror until she was pressed against a nearby wall.

Her father's face had twisted into an evil grin and his eyes were a pale white. Just as the mirror had shown her. Why had she been so foolish as to actually believe he would be changed? He was the master of this place. Ellwyn felt a sudden weight and had the feeling that she and Legolas did not stand a chance, being trapped so easily deep within the walls of the black land.

Her father turned to glare at her. "My beautiful, beautiful daughter," he said in the most bone-chilling voice she had ever heard, "you are too much like your mother. It's a pity you did not take the hand I offered to you…for you would have been given power, more power than you could ever dream of. But you have inherited the streak of that hideous Elves' blood from Thuwen. Sauron had forewarned me of your treachery. But I refused to believe it. I thought, for a moment, that you would not have to suffer the same fate of my dear, beloved Thuwen…"

Legolas suddenly screamed, "No! Ellwyn, you must--" But her father raised his hand suddenly, drawing upon the dark powers bestowed upon him by his lord. A great barrier of force collided with the elf and threw him violently against the wall. Ellwyn watched in horror as Legolas slid limply to the ground and her father turned towards her.

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com 

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.

Author's note: Don't you just love cliffhangers? (muahaha) I'll put up the next chapter very soon, I promise. Thanks to all my avid readers for being patient with me and for all the lovely compliments! J 


	9. A Destiny Recalled

****

Chapter Nine: A Destiny Recalled

By Ellwyn J 

"It seems I was wrong," her father finished, a glint of hatred burning in his eyes.

He then raised his hands and suddenly Ellwyn felt as though her feet were no longer touching the ground. She looked down and glimpsed the floor, several feet below. Her father clenched his hand. Ellwyn groped at her neck; some invisible force was strangling her. Pain wracked through her entire body and her vision was beginning to cloud. She let out a strange choking sound as tears came to her eyes. Her eyes drifted wildly over her father's face—and she saw then that he was crying. The twisted malevolence in his face was beginning to vanish.

An unwanted wave of pity swept over her as she watched the growing distress in her father's eyes. His pale eyes were beginning to soften once more, and the wretch that was trying to kill her suddenly became her father again. He lowered his hands and Ellwyn crumpled to the floor lifelessly, struggling to breathe.

"My dear…" she heard him say shakily, "…what have I done? Please, Ell, forgive me. I have done so much evil…"

Ellwyn, after fully regaining her senses, raised her head and saw her old father's aged face. He looked tired and haggard, and appeared to be on the verge of sobbing. "Father…what has happened to you?" she asked in a meek voice.

"Please, take my hand," he said pleadingly, "let us leave this place. We can return home. We can go back to how we were, so long ago…just take my hand."

She felt herself getting to her feet with much effort and extending her hand to his. _What am I doing? He killed my mother, he killed so many others…_ She let her hand drop to her side as she suddenly was reminded of the faces staring back at her from the shadows of the stairs. _But he is different. He has changed…has he not?_ Ellwyn's mind reeled as she struggled to overcome the part of her that hated the man in front of her, wanted to fulfill her sole purpose of coming here, to kill him. 

"Ellwyn, my dear, my daughter!" His eyes shone with so much desperation. Oh, how she wanted to just throw herself into his arms and leave this miserable place…

Her hand slowly lifted.

Legolas stirred suddenly from where he lay on the other side of the chamber. He raised his eyes and let out a yell. Neither father or daughter heeded him; they seemed to be immersed in their own world. Then he saw their hands, only a hair's breadth away from each other. Upon reflex, he reached back and let an arrow fly at her father. 

But it did not hit its mark, nor did it even come within a foot of the man before it disintegrated rapidly and fell to the floor like mere specks of dust. Legolas watched, dumbfounded, but only for a split second. If no weapon could harm the man, somehow, Legolas knew that his daughter could. 

An arrow struck the floor just inches away from Ellwyn's left foot. For a moment, Legolas thought it would not work. But it was enough to bring her back into reality. The dazed look disappeared from her eyes and she tried to spring away. 

But her father already had a hold of her hand, and he was clutching it like a madman. A black light suddenly enveloped the two of them and Legolas watched, horrified, as a rush of white sprang up from Ellwyn's skin and moved towards her father. He was beginning to suck her soul out of her body, giving her spirit to the dark lord in exchange for more power. 

There was a deafening roar all about them, and Ellwyn was screaming desperately. She felt her hand growing cold; the death spread rapidly up her arm and reached her shoulder. Her mind was completely void of all comprehension—all she could think of to do was to escape his grasp somehow. But the death was spreading too quickly through her body. She was weakening.

Legolas was running to them as fast as his legs could carry him. But he slammed into an invisible barrier when he reached them and was thrown aside. He released two more arrows into the midst of the blackness to no avail. Finally, he screamed rather hopelessly, "_Reno!_" Remember!

The word snapped Ellwyn back to her senses. She stopped struggling and, with her last remaining strength, yanked the chain off her neck and thrust the sharp end of the silver leaf blindly into her father's neck. 

The air was still. Her father's eyes were widened, and pale white faded into nothingness. His cold hand dropped Ellwyn's and his body shuddered violently. 

Suddenly a massive tremor shook the ground and both Ellwyn and Legolas were knocked off their feet. They struggled to stand, but another tremor came to throw them off their feet once more. Another tremor. Then another. It seemed as though the cavern itself was a part of her father and was collapsing with the death of its master. A huge chasm was opening in the midst of the chamber, and all Ellwyn could discern in it was utter darkness. She struggled to find safety near the wall as the chasm widened. 

Then the stone cracked beneath her father's feet, and he fell. He fell, still clutching his neck, into the darkness. Ellwyn cringed as a bloodcurdling scream issued from her father's lips and bounced off the walls of the chamber. 

The quakes were becoming stronger now. Ellwyn felt herself slip against the stone, and she screamed. The next thing she knew, she was dangling above the darkness, wildly clutching at the ledge. 

The ground stopped shaking suddenly. But her body was weak still, and her hand was beginning to slip. She shut her eyes tightly, clenched her jaw, and struggled to hold on to it. Then she remembered the image in the mirror and a thought came to her that she did not have a fighting chance. So she let her strength melt away and let go. 

But she wasn't falling. Instead, a strong hand was grasping her wrist and hauling her up. Legolas had rushed over to her in an instant. He pulled her to safety, and they both lay there, panting, for many moments. He sat up first and bent over her, a frantic look in his eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence. 

Ellwyn nodded weakly and watched as his face broke out into a relieved grin. But then she gasped as a sudden spasm jolted through her body. Legolas' heart lurched painfully when he saw the color in her eyes suddenly paling before him. She inhaled sharply, her body convulsing uncontrollably. 

"No!" Legolas yelled, grabbing her hand and clutching it to his chest. "What is happening?" he cried into the air, as if challenging fate itself. "No…"

Ellwyn was fighting the cold that was covering over her body. She fought it valiantly, and the paleness gradually faded from her eyes, though it lingered there and would continue to grow. She stopped gasping and lay still. Legolas looked up through his desperate tears.

Then she managed to whisper, barely audibly, "Legolas…I'm so sorry. You must leave me here, I am fated to die alongside my father…"

He shook his head in defiance. "No! Ellwyn, you're going to live. I am going to see to it that you live, heniag? Do you understand?" Legolas gathered her limp body in his arms and lifted her carefully. The ground was beginning to shake threateningly under his feet. 

Ellwyn shut her eyes and smiled feebly. She felt Legolas' warmth spread through her once more and felt comforted. A small part of her wanted to believe that he would find a way for her to live yet within her heart she knew that her gradual perishing was irrevocable. 

"Orcs…" she murmured as they moved towards the door, the cavern floor growling louder with each step of the elf.

"They are gone," Legolas answered after tilting his head to listen intently. He was puzzled for a few moments, but then he knew the reason why the creatures had suddenly disappeared. "The quake must have frightened them away from here. They sense the death of their Master."

"I'm sorry," she whispered again. Legolas ignored her.

The next moments were a blur to her: she saw the cavern's darkness giving way to the bright but cold sunlight filtering through the grey clouds that covered its face, then felt something warm nuzzle her cheek. "Phaere," she managed to say before lapsing into a state of half consciousness. Legolas placed her carefully on the horse who had been waiting outside the cavern after the Orcs had disseminated. 

He mounted behind her and rode through the mountain pass in silence, leaving the black tower and the collapsing cavern behind them. The air was dead. 

Then they reached the open air, and Legolas took one last look back at the mountains of shadow before turning back to whisper to the girl who was struggling to remain conscious, "Mellen, ú-annathon dhâf angen gwanno." My dear, I will not let you die. They rode over the withering grasslands of Northern Ithilien and began the journey back to the Anduin.

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com 

Disclaimer: All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	10. The Silver Waters

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Chapter Ten: The Silver Waters

By Ellwyn J 

It seemed as though the Anduin were still leagues away, even after hours of slow riding, and Legolas could only see a faint line of silver from where he stood with Phaere and her unconscious passenger. 

He had been frantically casting about in his mind for a destination, an answer to the problem he was faced with. Ellwyn was slowly slipping away in the world of spirits and losing her hold on reality. She was dying, and he knew it. Her eyes grew faint and faded to a paler shade with every passing moment; her breath was coming in ragged gasps. 

Why did this have to happen to her? She did not have to go to meet her fate and she did not have to kill him. But he knew her feelings inwardly: Ellwyn would never feel complete if she did not avenge the deaths of so many innocent. She was the only one who could. 

He knew now what she had seen in the mirror of Galadriel: she had seen images of her own death—she had seen what would happen if she were to fulfill her fate and kill the traitorous man who had brutally murdered her mother. And yet she had still gone forth to meet destiny, to stare it defiantly straight in the face although she knew what it had waiting for her. Now he understood the pain that had always lingered in her eyes, he knew the burden she had carried, all that she had felt and wanted to pour out to him but could not let herself, that night she lay in his arms by the water. 

And he understood why she tried to leave without him. _Oh Ellwyn,_ he thought, _you would have gone to meet your death alone. You would have carried the pain alone. You would have let your life fade away knowing only cruelty and pain…_

Legolas despaired. Where could he go, and what could he do to help her? 

Finally, as a gentle but chilling breeze blew over his face, and, as if there was a whispering voice on the wind, he knew where he should take the ailing girl. 

Lothlorien. The Lady of the golden forest would know how to heal Ellwyn. And, Legolas reassured himself, she would be able to. The elves of Lorien had, after all, been able to heal the girl's wounds once. They could surely do it again.

Legolas stepped nimbly and quickly alongside the horse, for Phaere was beginning to tire. He urged the horse to move quicker with a soft muttering, "Noro lim, mellonen." Go swifter, my friend. 

As they were walking towards the silver line in the distance, he brought his gaze to rest on Ellwyn's pallid face. Her eyelids were fluttering restlessly although they were closed over her colorless eyes and he suddenly wished he could join her, wherever her mind was at, and offer her comfort.

"Ellwyn, tessa coia." Ellwyn, hold on to life. "Please," he begged. He saw her stir slightly and, to his amazement, she opened her eyes to look at him. They were a turbulent grey now—it seemed to him that in her eyes, there was a battle between light and darkness. He smiled with as much warmth as he could muster. "Can you hear me?" he asked softly.

She blinked and her lips formed a wavering smile. Legolas felt a lump rising in his throat and wanted so much just to break down and cry. But he had to remain strong for her. He reached up to caress her cheek. "Ú-boe angen awarthad. Im nedh baur o le."

Ellwyn's mouth opened as she struggled to form words. Then she managed to whisper in a thin wisp of a voice, "I…do not understand."

The elf smiled through his watering eyes. "You cannot leave me. I need you." 

She smiled suddenly, and a bit of hue returned to her colorless cheeks. "Le…milin, Legolas," she whispered feebly, pausing in an effort to remember the words in his language.

Legolas felt as if his heart would melt. Tears were pouring silently down his face and he leaned over to gently kiss her. Then she gazed at him quietly for a moment more before lapsing into a fitful slumber once more. He drew in a few deep but trembling breaths and looked determinedly in the direction of the river. He would get to Galadriel's forest, he would bring Ellwyn back to life, and they would go back home to Mirkwood.

*****

The day passed slowly as the sun waned in the grey skies. The Anduin was less than a mile away, and the elf, whose energy had been dwindling, much to his frustration, felt lighter now that his goal was so near. Legolas had not hesitated to think what he would do to get Ellwyn and the horse across, nor had he wondered how he would fare once he reached the opposite shore. He had bent his mind solely on getting to the great river, and now that he was approaching it quickly, he found himself despairing once more. 

Phaere suddenly stumbled against an outcropping of jagged stone and Legolas' tired mind was forced awake as he simultaneously struggled to help the horse up and make sure Ellwyn did not fall from her back. It was then, when he had finally turned his attention upon the girl, that he noticed.

Legolas let out a startled cry and hastily but gently gathered her in his arms and laid her to rest on the ground. Ellwyn's eyes were fluttering open and, to his horror, appeared to be completely pale. There were beads of sweat on her skin and she was rasping as if she could not breathe. He knelt over her and grabbed her hand, cradling it in his. "O Eärendil," he prayed desperately, "give her the strength to fight! Whatever grace there is in me, I beg of you to give it to her. Anything, just let her live, please! Ellwyn, listen to me: fight this. Fight, Ellwyn…" He continued rambling like this for quite some time, heedless to his own words as he tried to rouse what little life there was left in her.

Then, when he almost felt there was no way for her to be revived, she drew in a sharp breath and shut her eyes tightly. 

When they reopened, Legolas was shocked to see that Ellwyn had returned. Her eyes were dark once more, and she looked straight at him: not vaguely through him, but focused upon him. His heart began to pound with hope once more and his spirits soared. She was looking at him through half-dazed eyes, tired, but certainly conscious. 

Legolas finally found his voice. "Ellwyn!" he said, "are you awake? Please, speak to me…we are so close. Just keep on fighting it back, and--" 

He was interrupted when Ellwyn weakly squeezed his hand. Legolas looked into her eyes and saw only sadness there, but it made him glad to see that there was no turmoil, only a great calm. She drew in a few deep breaths as if to draw upon her remaining strength and whispered, "Legolas, promise me."

"What?" His eyes darted around her face, searching for an answer.

"Promise…that…" she struggled for a few moments, then continued, "you will remember," she finished. The light in her eyes was fading again. But this time it did not seem that she would have the strength to fight, nor was she willing to. Legolas saw the resignation in her face and his heart was felled.

"Remember what?" he asked desperately, as though he were trying to keep her in the world as long as he possibly could.

She shut her eyes and inhaled, her breath quivering. "Remember that I will always be waiting for you. And promise me…that you will _live_."

Legolas wanted to shut her words out, to shut the horrible world out of his mind. This could not be happening. She had only fought once more with the last reserves of her strength, to tell him to _live_? He grasped her hand to his heart and said angrily, "If you leave this world, then I do not want to be in it."

Ellwyn shook her head and he saw tears forming in her eyes. She said, sounding stronger now as though she had summed up all her strength for this final moment, "No, Legolas. There are things you are meant to do in your life…just as in mine." She paused. "I have met mine, and now a destiny awaits you…and you should go to meet it," she said, and his words directed back at him made Legolas chagrined. "Thank you, Legolas," and the tears now flowed freely down her face, "for not letting me die without knowing love."

Legolas shook his head quickly in defiance. "No, Ellwyn, we just have to get to Lorién, and…" The look on her face silenced him and he struggled in his mind, not wanting to accept what was happening yet knowing that he had to before it was too late.

"When you have gone to meet destiny and returned," she whispered, her voice growing fainter with every word, "and have done everything you needed to do…just remember that I wait for you."

And then her eyes closed and were covered over in darkness, never to open again.

Legolas cried. He cradled her in his arms and cried, his pain numbing every limb in his body, every thought in his mind. 

*****

He stood waist deep in the shallows of the Anduin and bent to gently kiss her for the last time, then released his grip and watched the makeshift vessel drift downstream. Ellwyn lay upon the raft he had constructed by combining their two cloaks and the limbs of several trees. Her face bore the expression of one in a restful slumber and, for the first time since he had know her, pain was completely uplifted from it. Her hands were folded across her midsection and around her he had laid silver and green leaves he had found on the branches of trees in a nearby alcove, entwined and mingled with each other. 

She looked utterly peaceful, and as he watched the calm waters of the river envelope the raft lovingly, it seemed to him that she was encased in a glimmering silver light that reflected off the water's surface. Legolas looked on quietly, too grieved to let his tears fall and completely enthralled by the scene. So he stood watching until the waters of the Anduin carried her away and he could no longer see her. 

The elf went to the horse whose head was hanging in mourning, and stroked her nose. "Namar, mellonen." Farewell my friend. He unhooked the harness and let it fall to the ground, then watched Phaere disappear over a hill.

Legolas turned back to the river and smiled then, and closed his eyes as he let the warm breeze waft over him. "Namar, mîlen. Farewell, my love. Farewell, Ellwyn. I will meet you again someday," he whispered to the flowing silver waters before he turned away and began once more on the journey up the path to his destiny.

Email: jidai_rinoa@hotmail.com 

All names, places, or plot/history affiliated with LOTR are entitled to J.R.R. Tolkien. The rest is from my imagination. If there are any errors in the history/land/names of anything related to Tolkien's works, please inform me.


	11. Epilogue: The Grey Havens

****

Epilogue: The Grey Havens

By Ellwyn J 

Legolas stood on the prow of the small wooden vessel, watching the swirling grey mists approach. He felt a great lightness of being and a strange eagerness wash over him. A gruff voice behind him interrupted his thoughts and made him turn.

"What are you doing?" the dwarf Gimli asked, none too quietly. "If you stand there, the boat will tip," he admonished to the elf.

Legolas turned to look at his companion and laughed merrily, a sweet ringing sound that pierced through the still air. He grinned, and the boyish charm still shone through his face although he had seen much in his lifetime now: a quest to see the perilous ring destroyed, battles upon battles waged between the servants of the dark lord and the peoples of Middle-earth, countless seasons that had come and passed as quickly as a slight ripple upon the surface of water fades away into oblivion. But for the ages he had lived and the world that he had seen, he had not forgotten a love that was long lost to him. 

Gimli grimaced at him mockingly as Legolas finally sat. But the elf's smile faded and he turned back to look at the mist ahead. 

Quieter then, the dwarf asked, "What is it, my friend?"

Legolas did not turn or acknowledge his question at first. It was a few moments until he finally drew in a calm breath and said, almost to himself, "I remembered, and I always will." Gimli was only baffled further. But he did not feel a great need to pursue the matter, and settled back in the boat, closing his eyes. 

The prow of the boat glided forward in the waters and parted an opening in the grey curtain of mist as Legolas smiled to himself. "I go to meet a friend," he replied to Gimli finally. _Ellwyn, telin ad angen._ Ellwyn, I come back to you.

A/N: Done! Thank you everybody for reading and reviewing, hope you enjoyed my woeful tale (or so I thought it was, but we all have our opinions) and letting me share a bit of my thought with you all. 

*Thank you to Aerlinnêl for translating the dialogue in Elvish for this story! 


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